


Extinguishing Flames

by Firenza



Series: Septic Egos Oneshots [9]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Apologies, Bells, Coma, Death, Demon, Journal, Loneliness, Magic, Missing Persons, Murder, Suicide, mentions of depression, mentions of past suicide attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 11:41:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16367213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firenza/pseuds/Firenza
Summary: After months of silence, Anti has returned. This time, he'd not just coming for the egos. He's coming for the world.





	Extinguishing Flames

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING: this does have mentions of a past suicide attempt and an actual suicide. If you are sensitive to this and still wish to read PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

After months of silence and tense waiting by both the egos and community, Anti returned. This time with total destruction in mind; not just for them, but for the world. He somehow obtained a physical form and escaped into reality, wreaking havoc all over the globe and maybe even beyond. He’d basically caused the apocalypse. He gave everyone that had the misfortune of running into him a choice: join him and become his puppet, or face a painful death. People chose both sides, and sure enough, the ones that didn’t join him were killed.

The egos went into hiding. Jackie was brave enough to try and rescue people from off the streets and brought them back to their home. On top of setting wards for protection, Marvin also found a spell that extended the house only on the inside, making it bigger than it looked on the outside. Henrik turned a good portion of the home into a makeshift hospital, treating injuries and training people on how to help each other. Jack was set up in a separate, more secluded, room as they held onto the hope that he would wake and save them, now even more than ever.

Besides the wards, Marvin truly thought of everything that he could to protect them. A never ending supply of refrigerated food spawned in multiple crates around the house; a set-up of tiny bells, one for everyone in the house, that would ring if they were in danger, and when held would lead to their location. He enchanted coats that rendered the wearer practically invisible, helped people locate their loved ones, and managed to contact their own friends to see if they were alright.

But the makeshift peace couldn’t last forever.

While Jackie was out searching one day, his bell started to ring. Marvin immediately grabbed it and ran out the door to help. Neither of them returned. Jameson bravely volunteered to search for them. That’s when they realized Marvin hadn’t made a bell for himself. Jameson still went out, taking one of the jackets with him for protection. He returned a few hours later with a handful of tattered red scraps of fabric and a blood-speckled, broken mask. Chase had never heard Henrik cry so loud.

Somehow, Marvin’s magic held. The wards stayed up, food kept coming, and the bells never failed them. It was a bitter hope to those that didn’t know Anti that he’d somehow survived or never even encountered the glitch at all. The egos knew it would be better if he’d come across Anti and died.

They carried on for about a month after that without any excitement. Only a few new people were rescued after that, given that most were too scared to venture even just outside the house. Henrik continued to treat people who got sick, though it was thankfully less than before. Chase found that he was somehow good at lifting everyone’s spirits, especially the children’s. They reminded him of his twins, so innocent and full of life. He wondered if they were still alive. Was Stacy?

One day, one of the kids ran out of the house. Jameson took his bell and tracked him down. Only fifteen minutes after he’d left, his own bell started ringing wildly. Before anyone could do anything, it suddenly stopped, filling the house with an eerie silence. This time, Chase left to find him, or at least what was left. He found his corpse lying at the edge of the beach; a clean, quick cut slashed across his throat. He carried it back to the house so they could properly mourn him. That night, they burned him, letting him finally go free.

They never found the little boy.

After that, no one seemed to see the point in staying in the house anymore. People left in, taking their loved ones and bells with them. Some left notes thanking them; others disappeared without a trace. Within a week, everyone but Chase and Henrik was gone.

Chase hardly ever saw the doctor outside of his room after that. The times he was outside, he seemed bone tired and frail, as if a single breath of air would knock him over. His eyes were constantly glassy and his voice was almost always a whisper. One day, he showed Chase how to change Jack’s fluids, another thing Marvin had made sure they had an infinite supply of, and what to do if somehow he did wake up. The night Chase heard a gunshot come from his room, he wished he could have said he didn’t see it coming.

But he couldn’t..

Chase burned his body like they had done to Jameson’s.

Then he was alone, save for the comatose man secluded away. Chase found his solace in sitting with Jack as he fiddled with a radio trying to see if there was anyone out there. The only things he heard were static and the occasional distorted voice of the demon they all despised.

It was an ironic thing to consider, being alone. Out of all of his friends, he’d been the closest to death before all of this had started. Now, here he was, the last one left alive.

Sometimes he heard voices outside. Sometimes those voices were screams. Sometimes they were cries for help. He never answered them. Who could he help really? He’d been unable to save Henrik from the very fate he’d tried to give himself. The fate Henrik himself had saved him from. He tried to keep himself from reverting back into the depressive state that he’d once fallen into by keeping a journal of everything he’d been doing to help people. He’d set food outside the door for passersby to take; he was keeping Jack _alive_ , though who knows if he was truly doing his creator a favor. He thought back to everything he’d done for his friends, and everything they’d done for him. It hurt to remember them, yes, but he kept them alive inside his head.

A few weeks after Henrik’s suicide, a miracle happened. While he was tending to Jack, the man’s hand _twitched,_ the first sign of movement ever. He tried not to over excite himself. For all he knew, he’d imagined it. But then it happened again, a little larger this time, and again. Jack’s eyes flew open and he grasped at his throat as he struggled to breathe. Slightly panicking, Chase gently pulled the tubes out of his neck and unhooked the IVs just as Henrik had told him to. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. He was awake.

Jack was _awake_.

Tears flowed freely between them as they leaned on each other. Jack apologized infinitely for creating the monster. No matter how many times Chase tried to tell him that he couldn’t have known Anti would create the fucking apoclolypse, he wouldn’t listen. Chase didn’t blame him for feeling guilty.

He heard Anti before he saw him, or rather, he heard a bell ring. In all of his time alone, he’d almost forgotten about the bells. None had ring since Henrik’s death since there was only one left hanging.

His own.

Suddenly, he was thrown to the ground. He tried to stand, but clawed hands held him down by the wrists. Looking up, his eyes met blue ones filled with bloody tears. Jack quietly sobbed, whispering another soft apology before his lips twisted into a devious smirk and his eyes filled with black ichor. Chase stopped struggling. This was his end. Would he see his friends in whatever afterlife existed?

The words hardly registered as Anti made some smart quip at him, probably asking if he wanted to become a puppet or if he wanted to die. Chase wasn’t sure what he answered, if he even said anything at all, but the next thing he knew was there was a knife at his throat and the world was going dark.

He was finally free.


End file.
